Field of the Invention
The invention relates to systems methods of providing secure financial transactions, including an anti-tampering mechanism, and a method and system for a registry of documents for authentication.
Description of the Related Art
When purchasing a good or service, a buyer, or payer, can use any of a number of different methods to make a payment to a seller, or payee. Aside from using cash, payment is typically made using a credit or debit card, a check, a money order, or an electronic funds transfer. These and other non-cash payment methods are very convenient, particularly because they do not require the payer to have large amounts of cash on hand. In addition, it is unsafe (and in some cases illegal) to send cash to the payee by mail if the payee and payer are not in close geographical proximity.
Despite increased security measures, fraud continues to be an issue with non-cash payment methods. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,047,415, 7,017,046, and 6,381,696, which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, disclose timestamping technologies that are currently used for purposes of authenticating digital data. Payees and other entities involved in payment-related transactions often have little ability to verify the authenticity of non-cash payments, which makes it easy for payers to make fraudulent payments, especially by forging checks.